Artist of The Week – Kelly Beeman

Illustrator Kelly Beeman was born into a home of artists. It was a place where creativity was encouraged and drawing was a must. It’s no wonder that Beeman has now developed a style that is completely her own. We catch up with the artist, who currently lives in New York.

Kelly, how are you today?
I’m doing well.

Describe a typical NYC day for you.

A typical day for me is spent painting. I usually wake up early in the morning with new ideas that lead me directly to my drafting table (after I make coffee of course) where I begin to sketch, research and create work. I often go to the library and browse through art and art history books. I spend a lot of time by myself, immersed in painting or gathering ideas, so it is very important for me on an atypical day to go out and meet up with friends and do things that counterbalance the time I spend alone dedicated to my work.

When did you realise fashion illustration is something you wanted to seriously pursue?
I have always been an artist…I used to do nude figure painting. Eventually I became very fascinated by clothing as a signifier so I started searching through fashion collections for inspiration and looks I could incorporate to complement and define my subjects. I suppose the clothing became a way to individualise the female nude prototype, transforming it into a person defined by particular tastes, experiences and attitudes. I decided I wanted to pursue fashion illustration when I realised how much I enjoyed this new approach to my painting.

Were you always creatively hands-on as a child?
Yes. I cannot remember when I started drawing, only that it was a very important activity in our home. I have three sisters and we used to draw together, creating long narratives and sagas that kept us entertained for hours on end. We never had many toys or dolls: the few Barbies we had became subject to our merciless “creativity” (probably the reason our parents stopped buying them), so we created characters together and our drawings depicted their families, boyfriends, houses, friends, etc. Sometimes I wonder if my upbringing had been any different, what I would be doing today…

Who are the designers that make you want to pick up a sketchpad and pencil?
When I illustrate fashion, I am mostly looking for designs that convey an idea that I can impart to my subjects. Lately I am very excited about J.W Anderson. I think that we are in a particular moment socially in which people are thinking about sex and gender and what they actually mean, and J.W Anderson as a brand is a part of this movement. On perhaps another end of the spectrum, I’ve always loved illustrating Valentino, especially the couture collections. The designs are breathtakingly beautiful. And recently I’ve been very inspired by Erdem and Dries Van Noten as well.

What was the last exhibition you visited and what did you think of it?
I recently visited the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia for the first time. It was a very unique museum experience due to the arrangement of work – what Albert Barnes called “ensembles” – which were his symmetrical arrangements of paintings, decorative and folk art and metal tools. Barnes collected everything from medieval icons to impressionist painting to American folk art, and his ensembles are carefully curated and ordered presentations of all of this seemingly disparate work. I think that if we could see inside artists’ minds it would look something like the Barnes Foundation, where objects from different eras and cultures, reared for different purposes, become organised in a way that allows the artist to see and understand their relationship and to draw upon it…

Any other mediums you’d like to explore?
Which wouldn’t I love to explore! I hope that one day I will have made work in every medium. Lately I’ve been very curious about mixing egg tempura and making paintings on wood.

Interview: Nada Abdul Ghaffar